Background

The overall goal of the latest Governance Reform Fund (GRF) project phase is to accelerate structural transformation for sustainable development by enhancing citizen-centric governance systems for efficiently serving their constituencies. The project aims at improving the capacities of country authorities in policy planning, as well as the implementation and administration of effective and gender-responsive governance in the context of EU integration and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The GRF project directs its efforts toward strengthening the political and institutional context, the environmental context, and the economic and social context in Georgia to create an ecosystem where “no one is left behind”. Within the current phase, the project concentrates on various initiatives leading to long-term improvements with regard to public administration, human rights, public service delivery, gender equality, the economy, energy, rural development, the environment, and decision-making. The GRF project also continues to prove itself as an effective mechanism in supporting the consolidation of public administration commitments.

In its current phase, GRF continues to support more efficient public administration system development through the following well-tested mechanisms:

• Capacity Development Fund (CDF): addresses critical and immediate capacity development needs of public sector agencies. The project will continue to place more emphasis on initiatives with medium- to longer-term implications.
• On-Demand [Consultancy] Services (ODS): provides on-demand advisory services and technical expertise to develop the capacity of public agencies with regard to policy formation and implementation.

Capacity-building measures have a long-term effect on representation and power relations in institutions, and therefore close attention will be paid in the current GRF phase to ensuring that women are actively involved in the development and implementation of project activities and that they equally benefit from the results.

GRF intends to create an environment for multi-stakeholder collaboration, strengthen partnerships with key actors and implementing partners, stimulate experience sharing while at the same time expanding the capabilities of applying gender lens and giving impetus to the cooperation patterns where gender and inclusivity aspects are supported.  

Therefore, GRF is seeking a consultant to assist the GRF project in guaranteeing that gender mainstreaming and social inclusion issues are observed in the design and implementation of its interventions as well as assess and provide strategic advice how to ensure delivery of gender and social equality, and women´s empowerment interventions within the supported initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the consultancy is to assist the GRF project team and partner public agencies in analysing the roles and needs of women and men, vulnerable groups and addressing any gender inequalities so that women and men, as well as members of vulnerable groups can equally access, equally participate in activities, and equally benefit from the resources, services, capacity building and other activities offered by the initiatives. Furthermore, Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist will assess and categorize the project’s potential to integrate gender dimensions and social inclusion aspects and contribute to the advancement of social justice. The consultant should work with implementing partners to design the initiatives to meet the specific needs of women and men, as well as persons with disabilities, representatives of ethnic and religious minority communities, and LGBTQI people, and collect disaggregated data to track gender equality and social inclusion results and assess potential gender and social impacts. Moreover, s/he will be responsible for building capacity within the project team and among stakeholders to ensure gender-responsive and socially inclusive implementation and the continued integration of a gender and social perspective within the sector/area of interventions.

More particularly, the national consultant shall perform the following tasks and responsibilities: 

• Promote the mainstreaming of gender and social inclusion issues at all stages of the project cycle, from planning of the initiative through their evaluation;
• Support the inclusion of gender and social issues in all project activities;
• Develop guidelines, including a checklist, for partners in mainstreaming gender and social equality into strategic development to enable effective implementation of the GRF initiatives;
• Assist in developing SMART indicators to monitor the gender impact, diversity and social inclusion of supported sub-projects and on-demand consultancy services;
• Assess and identify potential gender-differentiated impacts as well as diversity and social equality aspects of identified potential initiatives;
• Review the sub-project documents and gauge the impact of intended results on power dynamics, diversity, social inclusion and gender equality;
• Systematically coach partner agencies on diversity and inclusion and gender mainstreaming issues and social inclusion aspects of activities during the design, implementation, and monitoring/evaluation stages of initiatives, including by following latest global developments including in UNDP;
• Lead training of the projects on gender mainstreaming for staff and partners and submit a report summarizing the outcomes of the training in gender-related issues;
• Review on-going sub-projects with regard to UNDP gender marker, Sida Gender Analysis framework and social impact and propose remedial measures as appropriate;
• Provide input to Annual Report through developing the gender, diversity and social inclusion related chapter;
• Develop and implement training modules for the project team/beneficiary agencies in principles of diversity and social inclusion, gender mainstreaming and its practical application in the project setting on a needs-basis;
• Support the GRF Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and the GRF team in the collection of disaggregated data that could be used to monitor potential gender, diversity and inclusion impacts;
• Compile final consultancy report, including describing the accomplishments undertaken during the consultancy period.

Deliverables and payment modality:

10% of the consultancy fee:

Deliverable 1 :

• Guidelines, checklists for mainstreaming gender and social equality issues into the strategic development of the GRF initiatives;
• SMART indicators to monitor the gender impact, diversity and social inclusion of supported sub-projects and on-demand consultancy services.

20% of the consultancy fee:

Deliverable 2 :

• Training modules (developed and implemented) for the project team/beneficiary agencies in principles of diversity and social inclusion, gender mainstreaming and its application in the project setting on a needs-basis;
• At least two trainings on gender mainstreaming for the project staff and partners agencies;
• Report summarizing the outcomes of the training in gender-related issues.

30% of the consultancy fee:

Deliverable 3 :

• Gender and social components of the GRF initiatives and recommendations on the inclusion of these issues into the initiatives;
• The evaluation report/outline of the GRF sub-projects impact on power dynamics, diversity, social inclusion and gender equality.

25% of the consultancy fee:

Deliverable 4 :

• Gender-disaggregated data from the GRF initiatives that could be used to monitor potential diversity and inclusion and gender impacts;
• Recommendations and proposed remedial measures on gender and social impact of the ongoing sub-projects as appropriate.

15% of the consultancy fee:

Deliverable 5:

• Input in the evaluation of the identified potential initiatives on possible gender-differentiated and diversity impacts as well as social equality aspects.
• Input in coaching partner agencies on gender mainstreaming and diversity and inclusion issues and social inclusion aspects of activities during the initiatives' design, implementation, and monitoring/evaluation process.
• Input to Annual Report including monitoring and evaluation, sustainability, lessons learned, and achievements.
• Final consultancy report including all accomplishments and work performed (number of on-the-job consultancies provided to GRF partner agencies in the process of designing and implementing the sub-projects; the number of progress reports submitted by GRF partner institutions reviewed and report on analyses of the validity of data in terms of attaining the intended outputs; report on achievements and lessons learned for each initiative based on the collected data from GRF partner institutions).

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Understanding of the mandate and the role of UNDP would be an asset;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional competencies:

• Strong communication and analytical skills;
• Demonstrated skills in drafting reports;
• Ability to work under pressure with several tasks and various deadlines;
• Actively generates creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
• Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
• A pro-active approach to problem-solving;
• Computer literacy.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

• Builds strong relationships with the working group and with the project partners;
• Focuses on impact and results for the project partners and responds positively to feedback;
• Cooperates with the working group effectively and demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy, positivity and a constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong influencing and facilitation skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good-humoured under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change, new ideas and ability to manage ambiguity;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates the ability to transfer knowledge and competencies;
• Is able to work independently and hurdle competing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree in Gender studies, social development, social studies or related subject areas - Master’s degree - 10 points (minimum requirement); PhD – additional 5 points

Experience

• At least five years of working experience on gender and social inclusion issues, mainstreaming the engagement of vulnerable and marginalized groups in project initiatives; 5 years -10 points (minimum requirement); more than 5 years – additional 5 points
• At least three years of proven record in designing and conducting capacity-building training on gender mainstreaming, including the development of training materials/modules on gender issues; 3 years – 5 Points (minimum requirement); more than 3 years – additional 5 points
• At least five years of experience in researching gender issues, carrying out gender gap analysis,  and analyzing the impact of the intervention on vulnerable groups; (minimum requirement) -5 Points
• At least two years of experience in providing consultancy services for national and/or local governments or international organizations in gender and social policy; (minimum requirement) -5 Points 

Language requirement:

• Excellent command of written and spoken Georgian and English.

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis method: Offerors will be evaluated against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 and for financial criteria – to 30. Offerors that do not meet Minimum Qualification Criteria will be automatically rejected, while the rest will form up the long list. The offerors who obtain minimum 35 points as a result of the desk review will be invited for the interview. Offerors who pass 70% threshold, i.e. obtain minimum 14 points, as a result of the interview will be requested the financial proposal.

Financial Proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Maximum 30 points will be assigned to the lowest price offer. All other price offers will be scored using the formula (inverse proportion):  Financial score X = 30* the lowest price offer/suggested price offer. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal as well.